Bambini currently stocks both Pfizer and Moderna COVID Vaccines. The first dose we strongly feel requires a visit with a practitioner; this is a decision that should be made carefully.
Some reasons we have heard parents give for having their teen receive the shot include:
- help relieve a measure of anxiety about contracting COVID-19 and suffering some of the well-publicized complications or spreading it to an elderly relative.
- more freedom to travel, visit theme parks, or attend sporting events that might require the vaccine.
- attend summer camps without a mask.
- as more schools / students drop mask mandate, shots provide some peace of mind.
- many colleges have already announced plans to mandate shot in fall.
On the other hand, there are multiple reasons for caution:
- the risk of COVID-19 in teens in extremely low. In our large practice, we have had zero admissions for acute COVID-19 in teens. We have had zero cases of Long COVID and just one case of MIS-C.
- As of early June, there have been 226 cases of myocarditis reported after the vaccines in recipients age 30 and under. The CDC is planning an emergency meeting to discuss this serious complication this Tuesday. These reports started coming in out of Connecticut last month, when 18 youths were hospitalized. We are a little disappointed in how long it has taken the CDC to respond.
- When you bring your child in for any other vaccine, we provide a VIS sheet from the CDC that lists the benefits and risks / side effects of the vaccine. Because the COVID shots are experimental, there is no VIS sheet available for us to provide. The FDA does have a "fact sheet" on the Pfizer vaccine.
- Some children in our practice, we don't really know how many, have had mild or asymptomatic infections with COVID-19 over the last year and are actually already protected. Why put them through something they don't need?
- Duration of protection with the COVID vaccines is unknown. Boosters are already being planned for late fall for those that already received their shots. The "passports" are currently only good for six months.
- The total number of reported adverse reactions to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is staggering -- 400,000 through early June. These reports are all voluntary; it is widely believed that the actual number is between one and two orders of magnitude greater.
Over the last 10 days or so, mask mayhem has descended on schools. The CDC, NYS DOH, and county DOHs have all put in their two cents. Late last week, we started getting a large number of calls from from parents requesting a "doctor's note" to allow their child to go mask-less the remainder of the school year. Some reasons include:
- the heat and humidity combined with the mask may cause dizziness or headache
- the child has history of asthma
- the child has history of anxiety
In Dutchess County, it currently appears that, according the to local health department, parents may write these excuses. But some school districts may require the doctor's note. If your child has not been seen in the last three months or so, we will need to at least do an e-visit to obtain additional history -- at which time we can care for note.
Finally, please note that Lauren Van Buren PA-C, who is currently providing telemedicine service to her patients Tuesday through Fridays, anticipates beginning her 2-3 month maternity leave in mid-July.
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Back in 2011, Douglas Kondo MD from the Brain Institute in Salt Lake City and other researchers published their findings on the effect of uridine supplementation on seven depressed adolescents with a history of bipolar disorder.
Dose was 500mg twice daily. Side effects were minimal. No participant attempted suicide, engaged in self-harm, required psychiatric hospitalization, or experienced a manic switch during the study.
Did the uridine work? The subjects experienced an average drop in depression score of 54% during the six week study!
You can buy a 30 day supply of uridine on Amazon for about $20. One customer stated in their review, This is changing my life. Everything in my life is getting better. God bless uridine, for being the only thing that has noticeably and potently worked on my depression.
With the passage of time, we are seeing all the more clearly that depression is just not a Zoloft deficiency. In fact, we know that SSRIs can trigger suicidal thinking in adolescents. What a horrible side effect!
The authors of this study call attention to uridine's role in improving mitochondrial function and conclude by stating: Rational development of new treatments for bipolar disorder would include compounds designed to normalize the bioenergetic abnormalities associated with mitochondrial dysfunction.
Newer perspectives on depression also include the roles of inflammation, gut dysbiosis, environmental toxins, and stress / hormonal dysregulation. Uridine also appears to be useful in ADHD, brain fog, early dementia, and as a general nootropic.
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Can Probiotics Help with COVID-19? |
Did you know that more than a thousand papers have been written on this topic?! With so much research showing the benefit of such a safe, affordable OTC in both the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, where has the CDC, AAP, FDA, DOH etc been? Hanging out at Krispy Kreme perhaps?
Here's one example: In a study published this January, doctors from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy studied the effect of probiotics in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. 88 receive a probiotic blend (six strains of Lactobaccillus, two of Bifido, one Strep), the other 112 got their standard care only (which included Zithromax, heparain, hydroxychloroquine, and various anti-virals).
The findings? In the patients treated with standard care, mortality was 30%. In the group that also received probiotics, the mortality was just 11% (that is p<.001)!
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Deuterium: Effect on Our Health |
Deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen that contains both a proton and a neutron, is present in virtually all water on Earth. There are about six drops (150 ppm of deuterium-containing water molecules in each liter of water.
Why do we care about deuterium? Well, our mitochondria despise it! Each of our mitochondria contain about 1,500 nanomotors. They spin at amazing 9,000 RPM, producing ATP and "metabolic water" in the process. The mitochondria of a marathon runner produce an astounding 60 kg of ATP and 26 gallons of metabolic water.
With such an intense production line, little wonder that a rogue deuterium atom could seriously gum up the works!
Food sources high in deuterium include seeds, fruits, and roots. Sugar is quite high. Low levels, on the other hand, are found in animal products, especially fat. Butter has possibly the lowest deuterium content of any food.
Kids need a little deuterium for growth; plants like a little deuterium too. Perhaps this is a hormetic effect (a little stress cam be beneficial). Athletes tend to have reduced levels of deuterium, sometimes as low as 90-100 ppm. The aged and chronically ill, conversely, may have levels as high as 150-160ppm. These high levels can lead to fatigue, obesity, and cancer.
Currently, one cannot get tested at Labcorp or Quest, but kits are available using saliva or exhaled air (e.g. https://deuteriumtest.com/).
If your levels are high, drinking DDW (deuterium depleted water) can bring them down and potentially stop the growth of cancer or at least slow tumor progression. Other ways to reduce levels include eating a keto / carnivore diet, intermittent fasting, high intensity exercise, and getting out in the sun.
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